Clara, Antique Dresser (Before & After)

Once upon a time, there was a dresser that had been forgotten.  The green painted beauty sat in the back of an old barn waiting to be remembered, longing to return to the antique home she used to reside.  The house was sold and still she sat lonely in the barn.  The new home owners saw the dresser in their  new barn and the husband wanted to do something with her while the wife thought the dresser should be carted off to the dump.  The dresser sat and sat – sadly thinking it would stay there forever (rotting legs, broken door and all).

Here’s how Clara looked before:

Before

She’s laying on her side because the legs were in such poor condition.  We aired her out for two months before I started working on her.  Here’s a close up of her legs:

Before – rotten legs and chippy paint

The paint was all chipping off and the dresser was super smelly (musty) from being out in the damp barn for long:

Before

That is when Susannah called me and asked if I could use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to rescue this piece.  She thought it would make her husband very happy.  The dresser was so gorgeous I couldn’t resist.  Look at the details, even inside the drawers:

Drawer Detail

The challenge for this piece was the condition it was in.  I spent 6 hours prepping it to paint.  I took a wire brush trying to get all the chipping paint off. Then I washed it down with A LOT of mineral spirits, denatured alcohol and warm water.  Then it was two coats of clear shellac on the WHOLE piece – inside the drawers and inside the body of the dresser.  My husband repaired the legs – a huge thank you to him!

I’m so pleased to introduce you to “Clara”:

Clara – After

She is painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old Ochre, a very pretty and soft tan.  It looks almost white as it is going on and then dries a bit darker.

After

After

I painted the hardware too.  Due to the chippy paint underneath the newly painted dresser has a lovely texture.  In a way, it looks like it could have always been painting this color:

Hardware and texture

My favorite part is the scrolling details on the top.  I used dark wax on these details to make them show up:

After – scrolling detail with ASCP dark wax

For this piece I did two coats of clear wax and then liquified the dark wax by mixing in some mineral spirits to help it go on a bit more easily.  I know many who read the blog have some issues with the dark wax.  I’m finding liquifying it helps to smooth it into the detail and crevices, wipe access off and then wipe areas with some clear wax to define certain areas.

“Clara” – After

Clara returned to her home (not the barn) on Saturday and they all lived happily ever after….

“Clara” – After

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